The Feminist To-Do Listby Gloria Steinem

Gloria Steinem
Photo by Jenny Warburg.

Remember
your power! How does unjust power keep going?
Mostly, by persuading the majority to give up
ours. The most common way that an external authority
perpetuates itself is by persuading the rest of
us to abandon our internal authority.

Consider the changes made
by women's movements here and around the world
in just a few decades. Historians say they are
wider and and deeper than the Industrial Revolution.
Now project that
same degree of transformation into the future.
Imagining change is the first step toward creating
it.

If we sometimes fail, it's still
true that, no matter how difficult, trying to do something
is easier than not trying to do it-- and then being
left to wonder, "What if?" When we succeed,
we've multiplied our strength for the next time.

Remember. The art of behaving effectively
is behaving as if everything we do matters. Because
it does.

*Task 2: Make this a real democracyLess than four out of ten eligible voters
in the US participate in midterm elections. Download
the Mail
Voter Registration Form and get out the vote
in your community.

*Task 3: Stop the spread of AIDS, Spread
Condoms
An estimated 42 million people are infected with
HIV/AIDS. Women comprise nearly half of all infected
adults. While condoms are a key component of AIDS
prevention, the Bush administration last year
cut $34 million in funding appropriated for the
UNFPA,
one of the largest sources of condoms for the
developing world. Right Bush's Wrong: Join
the 34 Million Friends Campaign.

*Task 4: Fix health care. Give Medicare
to everyone
Forty-two million people in the US are uninsured.
The National Health Insurance Act (HR
676) sets to insure every US resident and
cover medications, provide parity for mental health
care, and eliminate all deductibles and co-pays.
Contact
your Congressperson and urge support for "Expanded
and Improved Medicare for All."

*Task 5: End smoking
According to the US Surgeon General's Women
and Smoking report (2001), lung cancer
kills nearly 68,000 US women. That’s one
in every four cancer deaths among women, and about
27,000 more deaths than from breast cancer (41,000).
In 1999, approximately 165,000 women died prematurely
from smoking-related diseases, like cancer and
heart disease. Quit
now and support legislation to create more
smoke-free environments.